Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"After a time, inside an expanding space, the depths called nine siblings into existence. As they calmly drifted, they began to create order in the dusty cosmos.
"The siblings had the ability to draw in and mould pieces of the surrounding clutter into new forms. They used their gifts to bring together the disparate fragments and create shelter for themselves.
"As each unique exterior grew, the thick could of dust that obscured the depths began to disperse. As this heavy blanket lifted, a hidden light was revealed, never to be seen by the now cocooned siblings.
"One sibling continued to be prolific with his gift and focused his artistry on a natural fibre within his shell to weave a network reaching out to the surface."
That sibling being the creator of the Earth. His contact with the surface of the planet through his creations and thus by extension the rays of the life-giving sun would have profound implications for his own existence...
And that's just the beginning of the prologue of this exquisitely beautiful 48-page wonder! Once the sibling meets the sun... well... it doesn't quite go how you might expect...
Which then leads us into the main story proper where young Richard goes to spend the summer at his grandfather Frank's coastal house with no other plan than to go swimming every day. The simple joys of summer holidays as a child! The best laid plans, though... and soon Richard finds himself with rather more to think about than he could possibly have ever imagined. Here is a sunny deposition from the publisher to tell you more about Richard's Plan B...
"Richard can't stop thinking about the clock. He lies in bed each night listening to its tick-tocking, to the pendulum's heavy swing. Why does his grandfather open its old doors in secret and walk into the darkness beyond?
"One night, too inquisitive to sleep, Richard tiptoes from his bed, opens the cherry wood door of the grandfather clock, and steps inside. There, in a strange twilight, he sees the Face the Earth, locked forever in a simulated world, where green things seem to grow in the semblance of trees and plants from unreal soil...
"In this quasi-world they sit together for many nights, the face and the boy, talking quietly of creation and the beginning of all things. Moved by the face's ancient tale of mysterious, magnetic love, Richard longs to release him. So one night he secretly winds back the hands of the grandfather clock, and changes time forever…"
It's going to be quite some holiday! For this is a splendidly curious fable that will lead you to a place most unexpected indeed. And whilst it is a beautifully written, tender, tantalising story, it is the wondrous art that will utterly captivate. A glorious rapture of colour and design portraying both the natural world and the heavenly sphere inside the grandfather clock. It's a visual feast par excellence , very possibly the most beautiful work I've read this year. I found myself unexpectedly moved by the sentiment carefully woven through this work.
